Expandable container

ABSTRACT

Traditional structured-containers have a maximum holding capacity upon exceeding of which would allow excess articles fall out of the structured-container by way of gravitational pull. The utility of these structured-containers is thus limited. The present invention discloses an expandable container with a pair of carry-handles where a net container is coupled to a traditional structured-container to thus synergistically and substantially increase the maximum holding capacity of the traditional structured-container. The pair of carry-handles also adds carrying possibilities and conveniences.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a container for transporting articles. More specifically, the present invention is related to an expandable container that can be used to transport articles.

Containers in general are greatly appreciated for their ability to house articles and making transportation of articles manageable. On a daily basis, people use containers in one form or another. The utility value of a container is greatly increased if its holding capacity is expandable so that it is both convenient to use for transporting a small number of articles as well as a large number of articles. Toward the goal of increasing the utility value of containers, there are a number of inventions disclosing how to add to the holding capacity of a container.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,917 issued to Dziersk discloses a utility caddy for use with or without a bucket. As shown in FIG. 6 of Dziersk, essentially, whenever a number of articles exceed the holding capacity of a bucket 50, a caddy 10 can be added thereto the bucket to house any excess number of articles. A shortcoming of this Dziersk invention is that both the bucket 50 and caddy 10 are made of a structured material thus they always occupy a same amount of space regardless whether both are being used. On occasions only a small quantity of articles are being transported, a user still needs to carry these large containers. On the other hand, should the user either only carries the bucket 50 or the caddy 10 and not both, the user may find insufficient amount of container space if the number of articles turn out to require the holding capacity of both the bucket 50 and the caddy 10.

U.S. Design Pat. No. D410329 issued to Wyatt discloses a combined rucksack and net bag. This container overcomes the shortcoming of Dziersk in that the expanded portion is a net that is collapsible when not needed and expandable when needed. Therefore, the net only occupies minimum amount of storage space when not in used. However, a shortcoming of this container is that while the net is useful to carry items much smaller than the main container, its juxtaposition relative to the rucksack while discretely increase the overall holding capacity of the rucksack, it is unable to either integrally or synergistically increase the holding capacity of the rucksack. For example, if an article is so large that it is unable to be fitted into the rucksack, the net is incapable to increase the overall capacity of the rucksack to hold this article.

U.S. Design Pat. No. D429886 issued to Avent discloses a foldable carrying case with a separable net bag. Avent shares the same shortcoming as Wyatt in that the net bag and the three separate folders can only discretely increase the holding capacity of the net bag, but they cannot either integrally or synergistically increase the holding capacity of the net bag so as to enable one single large article to be fitted into the net bag and the folders.

U.S. Design Pat. No. D421178 issued to Dandini discloses a carryall-beach blanket combination. FIG. 3 of this invention discloses a large net having a number of pockets to increase the holding capacity of articles. Again, while the pockets are useful to carry separate and small articles, they are unable to increase the holding capacity of the largest net so as to carry one single large article.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,213 issued to Alicea discloses a deformable retaining net. In this invention, a deformable retaining net 10 is added to a container 22. However, the deformable retaining net 10 is not able to increase the holding capacity of the container 22. It merely helps to retain any articles already housed in the container 22 so as not to fall out of the container 22. In essence, the deformable retaining net 10 has not increase the holding capacity of the container 22.

U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070056978 discloses an expandable container. In this invention, the expandable container 300 is made with a net-container 100 being securely attached to a structured-container 302 by having a bottom restrainer 104 fitted over a rim opening of the structured-container 302 before tightening the bottom restrainer 104. Absent from this invention is the presence of any secondary restrainer in addition to the bottom restrainer 104 that would further secure the net container 100 to the structured-container 302. Also absent from this invention is the presence of a pair of carry-handles and a pair of adjustable shoulder straps being affixed to the net-container 100.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of the prior art inventions, the present invention discloses a net-container when used in conjunction with a structured-container can increase the overall holding capacity as an expandable container so as to hold either a single large article or a large pile of articles that the structure-container by itself cannot hold.

It is apparent that by combining the structured-container with the net-container would synergistically increase the holding capacity of the structured-container and the net-container when they are both being used separately.

As the expandable container has an increased load capacity, the ease in which a fully loaded expandable container can be conveniently transported becomes increasingly important. The present invention offers several solutions to conveniently carry a loaded expandable container. The first solution is to introduce a pair of carry-handles on the net-container. Instead of requiring a two-hand operation to transport the fully loaded expandable container, a person can conveniently transport the fully loaded expandable container by a one-hand operation via the pair of carry-handles. The person's second hand is free to carry something else.

Another solution offered by the present invention is the introduction of a pair of adjustable shoulder straps to the net-container. To transport a fully loaded expandable container, all one needs to do is to adjust the pair of adjustable shoulder straps to the desired size of the user and put the pair of adjustable shoulder straps correspondingly over the user's shoulders. Alternative, the user may also choose to place either one or both shoulder straps over one shoulder. These methods of transporting the expandable container free up both hands of the user to carry other items.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the net-container of the present invention where the top and bottom closable openings are fully open.

FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of the net-container of the present invention where the top closable opening is mostly closed and the bottom closable opening is mostly open.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the first embodiment of the present invention where the net-container is coupled to the structured-container and the expandable container is hanged in suspense via a pair of carry-handles.

FIG. 4 shows a first embodiment a close-up view of how the net-container is coupled to the structured-container via a restrainer and a fastener.

FIG. 5 shows a first embodiment close-up view of the restrainer.

FIG. 6 shows a first embodiment close up view of a supplemental restrainer affixing the net-container to the structured-container.

FIG. 7 shows a first embodiment where a pair of supplemental restrainers is affixing the net-container to the structured container.

FIG. 8 shows a first embodiment of a loaded expandable container being transported via a pair of carry-handles.

FIG. 9 shows a second embodiment of a loaded expandable container whereby the net-container is affixed to a rectangular structured container.

FIG. 10 shows a second embodiment of a loaded expandable container whereby the net-container is affixed to a rectangular structured container and the entire expandable container is being transported via a pair of carry-handles.

FIG. 11 shows a first embodiment perspective view of a round-opening structured-container.

FIG. 12 shows a first embodiment perspective view of a round-opening structured-container loaded with articles.

FIG. 13 shows a first embodiment perspective view of the expandable container of the present invention loaded with articles.

FIG. 14 shows a first embodiment top view of a pattern of a net-material used to make the net-container.

FIG. 15 shows a first embodiment top view of a pattern emerging two pieces of net materials into one piece of net material to make the net-container.

FIG. 16 shows a diagrammatic view of a first fastener and how multiple parts associated thereof are integrally related to each other.

FIG. 17 shows a diagrammatic view of a second fastener and how multiple parts associated thereof are integrally related to each other.

FIG. 18 shows a diagrammatic view of a third fastener and how multiple parts associated thereof are integrally related to each other.

FIG. 19 shows a rectangular opening structured-container that the net-container may be coupled thereon to form an expandable container of the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows an irregular shaped opening that the structured-container may be coupled thereon to form an expandable container of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows a third embodiment view of a net-container of the present invention.

FIG. 22 shows a third embodiment view of a net-container of the present invention where a pair of adjustable shoulder straps is shown.

FIG. 23 shows a third embodiment view of a net-container of the present invention where a pair of adjustable shoulder straps can be used as a pair of carry-handles.

FIG. 24 shows a third embodiment view of an expandable container being worn on the shoulders of a user where the user can still use both hands to carry other items.

FIG. 25 shows how a channel of the net-container is made.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 and 2, by way of an example, illustrate a net-container of the present invention from two different perspectives. FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the net-container 100 having both top and bottom restrainers 102 and 104 stretched open to enable the largest opening to the net-container 100. Affixed to the bottom restrainer 104 is a pair of supplemental restrainers 108. Attached to the net-container 100 is a pair of carry-handles 106. Of course, the number of pairs of supplemental restrainers 108 and the carry-handles 106 can be increased to meet the application demands.

FIG. 2, in attempt to give a another view of the characteristics of the net-container 100, shows that the top restrainer 102 is tightened to provide a very small opening to the net-container 100 on one end while the bottom restrainer 104 is relaxed to provide a largest opening to the net-container 100 on another end. It should be noted that the net-container 100 by itself is a capable container with a utilizable holding capacity when one or more articles are fitted into the net and both restrainers 102 and 104 are tightened.

FIG. 3 shows by way of an example an expandable container 300 of the present invention in that the net-container 100 is securely attached to a structured-container 302 by having the bottom restrainer 104 being fitted over a rim opening of the structured-container 302 before tightening the bottom restrainer 104 by a fastener 402. A detail illustration of the junction where the net-container 100 is affixed to the structured-container 302 is shown by way of an example in FIG. 4.

An enlarged view of the fastener 402 is shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 shows by way of an example how a supplemental restrainer is attaching the not-container 100 to the structured container 302 before fitting a bottom end 104 of the net-container to fit over a rim of the structured container.

FIG. 7 shows by way of an example that a pair of supplemental restrainers is tying a net-container to a structured container at approximately opposite symmetrical positions to evenly distribute the weight of the load. Depending on needs, more supplemental restrainers may be added to the net-container.

FIG. 8 shows by way of an example when an expandable container is loaded and the supplemental restrainers and the restrainers are properly applied, a user may pick up the loaded expandable container by a pair of carry-handles.

In addition to the cylindrical shaped structured container shown in FIG. 8, the net-container may be fitted over the opening of a parallelogram shaped structured container. When the expandable container is loaded and when the supplemental restrainers and the restrainers are properly applied, a user may pick up the loaded expandable container by a pair of carry-handles.

As clearly shown in FIG. 11, the structured-container 302 has two main portions; namely, a rim portion 502 on top of a housing portion 504. The rim portion 502 is designed to serve the functions of overall structural support. It is also designed to serve as a handle so as to allow a user to carry and transport the structured-container 302 by holding onto the rim portion handles 506 and 508. The rim portion 502 has a perimeter larger than the largest opening of the housing portion 504. As such, when one end of the net-container 100 is encompassingly fitted over the rim-portion 502, the bottom restrainer 104 is tighten and a fastening holder 402 maintains the slackness or tightness of the bottom restrainer 104.

It is visually apparent that the perimeter of the rim-portion 502 is larger than the perimeter of restrainer 104 after it has been tightened. Therefore, the net-container 100 and the structured-container 302 are securely affixed to each other. By so affixing the net-container 100 onto the structured-container 302, the overall holding capacity of the resulting expandable container 300 is substantially and synergistically increased to house either a single large article or a single pile of articles which the structured-container 302 alone cannot fully house.

To visually illustrate the difference in holding capacity of the structured-container 302 and the expandable container 300 of the present invention, FIGS. 12 and 13 are added. As apparently shown, the holding capacity of a pile of articles in the expandable container 300 is more than double the holding capacity of the structured-container 302 alone. Despite of the more than double in holding capacity of the expandable container 300, the expandable container 300 is still stable and is self-standing. What increases the holding capacity being a lightweight and easily managed shrinkable net-container 100, it can be carried with the structured-container 302 at all times without really adding any burden to a user. However, when a user comes to realize a number of articles to be transported exceeds the holding capacity of the structured-container 302 alone, the net-container 100 is readily available to be added to synergistically increase the overall holding capacity to accommodate the articles.

FIG. 14 shows how the net-container 100 is patterned and manufactured. The process starts from preparing a net material 802 in a rectangular shape. On top and bottom of the rectangular net material 802 are tap regions E₁ and E₂. The tap regions E₁ and E₂ are respectively folded along fold lines F_(t) and F_(b) to form two layers of net material to be affixed together to form top and bottom channels. Two hole openings are then created on the surface of each of the top and bottom channels as an entry hole and an exit hole. Top and bottom restrainers 102 and 104 are then respectively fitted into these channels through the entry and exit holes.

On both ends of the net material are overlapping regions O. Since there are many devoids in any net material, overlapping regions O are needed to provide sufficient amount of material for affixation. The overlapping region O is created by folding overlap portions O from both ends along fold-lines F_(L) and FR. This folding of the overlapping region O would make the folded ends to have double the amount of materials than what otherwise is only a single layer of net material. Both folded ends totaling four layers are then brought together in an overlapping fashion and are affixed together. The end result is that the net material is formed into a cylindrical shape if both end openings are fully open.

As FIG. 14 shows how a net container is made from a single piece of net material, the net container can also be made from more than one piece of net material. FIG. 15 shows an example of making a net container by combining two pieces of net materials. On each piece of net material, there is an overlapping region O₁. By overlapping two regions O₁ and affix them together, they are successfully combined into one single piece of net material. Similar method can be used to combine even more pieces of net materials. As other aspects of making a net container is the same as that discussed with FIG. 8 above, they are not being redundantly described herein.

As an example of the dimensions of the present invention, the perimeter of the round edge of the structured container is 54 inches. The widest opening of the net-container is 55 inches. The height of the structured-container is 12 inches, and the height of the net container is 22 inches.

When a user needs to maintain either the top or bottom restrainers 102 or 104 to a desired loop size, fasteners devices 402 are used. A diagram view of a fastener 402 is shown in FIG. 16. The fastener has a main body 1004 with a pair of body holes 1008 partially housing a slidable plate 1002 with another pair of plate holes 1006. An internal spring 1010 inside the main body 1004 biases downward against the slidable plate 1002 so as to push the slidable plate 1002 away from the main body 1004. When put into use, a user would push the slidable plate 1002 toward the main body 1004 against the biasing force of the spring 1010 until the pair of holes 1008 and 1006 becomes concentric. The user then inserts a leading end of a restrainer into one pair of concentric holes and a trailing end of the restrainer into another pair of concentric holes. By no longer pushing the slidable plate 1002 toward the main body 1004, the spring 1010 would resort to its biasing force to push the slidable plate 1002 away from the main body 1004. As the restrainer being caught in the pair of one time concentric holes, the tightness and slickness of the restrainer can be controlled thus a size of an opening of a net-container can be controlled.

Another diagram view of a fastener 1700 is shown in FIG. 17. The fastener has a main body 1704 with a body holes 1708 partially housing a slidable piece 1702 with a piece hole 1706. An internal spring 1710 inside the main body 1004 biases against the slidable piece 1702 so as to push the slidable piece 1702 away from the main body 1704. When put into use, a user would push the slidable piece 1702 toward the main body 1704 against the biasing force of the spring 1710 until the holes 1708 and 1706 becomes concentric. The user then inserts both leading ends of a restrainer into the concentric holes. By no longer pushing the slidable piece 1702 toward the main body 1704, the spring 1710 would resort to its biasing force to push the slidable piece 1702 away from the main body 1704. As the restrainer being caught in the once concentric holes, the tightness and slickness of the restrainer can be controlled thus a size of an opening of a net-container can be controlled. FIG. 18 shows yet another embodiment of a fastener. It has a different exterior appear than fastener 1700. However, the internal mechanism between the fastener in FIGS. 17 and 18 are the same. Hence, reference numerals identifying different parts between both figures are the same.

Since the net-container 100 is highly adaptable to different shapes, it can be used for structured-containers with different opening shapes. Besides a round-opening of the structured container 302, the net-container 100 can also be used, for example, on a rectangular-opening structured-container as shown in FIG. 19 and an irregular opening shaped structured-container as shown in FIG. 20.

FIG. 21 shows a third embodiment view of a net-container 2100 of the present invention. Instead of being a cylindrical shape with top and bottom openings, net-container 2100 is in a plane circular shape. On the edges on the net-container 2100 is a channel 2102 housing a restrainer 2104. Both ends of restrainer 2104 enter into an opening of a fastener 2106. The fastener 2106 can be adjustably and securely place anywhere along the length of the restrainer 2104. If the length of the restrainer 2104 inside the channel 2102 is the same or greater than the fully extended length of the channel 2102, then the net-container 2100 is in its fully open position. If the length of the restrainer 2104 residing in the channel 2102 is less than the fully expanded length of the channel 2102, then a closure loop is formed. Affixed to outer peripheral portions of the net-container 2100 is a pair of supplemental restrainers 2108. They are shown by way of an example to be on opposite ends from each other so that the pair of supplemental restrainers can be accordingly tied to opposite end of the rim of a structured container before overlapping the closure loop on the rim of the structured container. A pair of adjustable shoulder straps 2110 in parallel relationship is affixed to the net-container 2100. A pair of strap adjusting mechanisms 2202 correspondingly attached to the pair of adjustable shoulder straps 2110 are shown in FIG. 22.

FIG. 23 shows an exemplary usage of the expandable container when the supplemental restrainers 2108 of the net-container 2100 are tied to the rim of a structured container and the closure loop is formed underneath the rim. The pair of adjusting shoulder straps can be used as a pair of carry-handles.

In FIG. 24, it is shown by way of an example that the pair of adjustable shoulder straps are worn onto the shoulders of a user whereby freeing both hands of the user to carry other items.

FIG. 25 shows how channel C is made. Essentially, the outer perimeter of the net material is inwardly overlapped to form a channel therein between. The channel becomes permanently when the overlapping condition of the net material is made permanent such as by stitching or other means. Two holes 2502 and 2504 respectively for entering and exiting of a restrainer are required to form a closure loop. The size of the circular net material can be made sufficiently larger than a rim of a structured container or much larger than the rim of a structured container. In the case that the circular net material is sufficiently larger than the rim of a structured container, the net material would effectively serve as cover for the structured container. On the other hand, when the circular net material is made much larger than the rim of a structured container, the net material would effectively serve both as a net-container and a cover for the structured container.

The entire specification of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/221,772 filed on Sep. 9, 2005 is incorporated herein by reference.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be evident that there are a number of changes, adaptations and modifications of the present invention that come within the province of those persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the aforementioned invention pertains. However, it is intended that all such variations not departing from the spirit of the invention be considered as within the scope thereof as limited solely by the appended claims. 

1. An expandable container with a pair of carry-handles, comprising: a structured-container having a top rim situated above a body and the top rim has a perimeter larger than a perimeter of the body; a net-container when fully open is in one of a cylindrical shape and a cone shape having a top closable opening and a bottom closable opening with a perimeter larger than the perimeter of the top rim; wherein the expandable container is formed by fitting the bottom closable opening to encompass the top rim and close the bottom opening to the extent that would securely but releasably coupled the net-container to the structured-container; wherein the pair of carry-handles is affixed to the net-container.
 2. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 1, wherein the net-container is collapsibly contained in the structured-container when not being used.
 3. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 2, wherein the top closable opening is formed by folding a portion of a net-material along a top fold-line to form two layers and affix the two layers of the net material to become a top channel and the bottom closable opening is formed by folding a portion of the net-material along a bottom fold-line to form two layers and affix the two layers of the net material to become a bottom channel.
 4. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 3, wherein an entry hole and an exit hole are formed on each of the top and bottom channels.
 5. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 4, wherein a leading end of a top restrainer is inserted into the entry hole and come out of the exit hole of the top channel to provide a structure to control a size of the top closable opening and a leading end of a bottom restrainer is inserted into the entry hole and come out of the exit hole of the bottom channel so as to provide a structure to control a size of the bottom closable opening.
 6. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 5, wherein a top fastener and a bottom fastener each with a main-body having a first body hole and a second body hole and a plate having a first plate hole and a second plate hole.
 7. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 6, wherein the leading end of the top restrainer is inserted into the first body hole and the first plate hole of the top fastener when these holes are concentric and a leading end of the bottom restrainer is inserted into the second body hole and the second plate hole of the bottom fastener when these holes are concentric.
 8. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 6, wherein the body and the plate of each of the top fastener and the bottom fastener are spring biased with a biasing force to push the body away from the plate to prevent the first and second plate holes to be correspondingly concentric with the first and second body holes.
 9. The expandable container with a pair of carry-handles of claim 8, wherein the first and second body holes are correspondingly concentric with the first and second plate holes by pushing the plate toward the main body against the biasing force of the spring.
 10. A method of making a net container, comprising a plurality of steps of: a) fold a top region of a sheet of rectangular net material along a top fold line to form a top double layer; b) fold a bottom region of the sheet of rectangular net material along a bottom fold line to form a bottom double layer; c) affix the top double layer and affix the bottom double layer to correspondingly create a top channel and a bottom channel; d) create a top entry hole and a top exit hole on the top channel; e) create a bottom entry hole and a bottom exit hole on the bottom channel; f) fold a left region of the sheet of rectangular net material along a left fold line to form a left double layer; g) fold a right region of the sheet of rectangular net material along a right fold line to form a right double layer; h) overlap the left double layer with the right double layer; i) affix the left double layer to the right double layer; j) insert a leading end of a top restrainer into the top entry hole; k) insert the leading end of the top restrainer out of the top exit hole so the leading end and a trailing end of the top restrainer are outside the top channel; l) insert the leading end of the top restrainer into a first pair of top concentric holes of a top fastener device when a first body hole of a top main body is concentrically aligned with a first plate hole of a top plate; m₁) insert the trailing end of the top restrainer into a second pair of top concentric holes of the top fastener device when a second body hole of the top main body is concentrically aligned with a second plate hole of the top plate; m₂) attach a pair of carry-handles to the rectangular net material.
 11. The method of claim 10, further including a step of: n) insert a leading end of a bottom restrainer into the bottom entry hole.
 12. The method of claim 11, further including a step of: o) insert the leading end of the bottom restrainer out of the bottom exit hole so the leading end and a trailing end of the bottom restrainer are outside the bottom channel.
 13. The method of claim 12, further including a step of: p) insert a leading end of a bottom restrainer into a first pair of bottom concentric holes of a bottom fastener device when a first bottom body hole of a bottom main body is concentrically aligned with a first bottom plate hole of a bottom plate.
 14. The method of claim 13, further including a step of: q) insert a trailing end of a bottom restrainer into a second pair of bottom concentric holes of the bottom fastener device when a second bottom body hole of the bottom main body is concentrically aligned with a second bottom plate hole of the bottom plate.
 15. The method of claim 14, further including a step of: r) adjust the first restrainer through any of the first and second pair of top concentric holes to one of a desired opening size and closure size over a top end of the net container.
 16. The method of claim 15, further including a step of: s) adjust the second restrainer through any of the first and second pair of bottom concentric holes to one of a desired opening size and closure size over a bottom end of the net container.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein the top main body is spring biased with a biasing force against the top plate so as to prevent the formation of the first and second pair of top concentric holes; and wherein the first and second pair of top concentric holes are formed when the top plate is pressed toward the top main body against the biasing force of the spring.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second pair of top concentric holes are formed when the top plate is pressed toward the top main body against the biasing force of the spring.
 19. The method of claim 13, wherein the bottom main body is spring biased with a biasing force against the bottom plate so as to prevent the formation of the first and second pair of bottom concentric holes.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein the first and second pair of bottom concentric holes are formed when the bottom plate is pressed toward the bottom main body against the biasing force of the spring.
 21. An expandable container with a pair of carry-handles, comprising: a structured-container having a top rim situated above a body and the top rim has a perimeter larger than a perimeter of the body; a net-container when fully open is in a circular shape with a closable perimeter; wherein the expandable container is formed by fitting the closable perimeter to encompass the top rim to securely but releasably coupled the net-container to the structured-container; wherein the pair of carry-handles is affixed to the net-container; and wherein the pair of carry-handles is one of a fix length and an adjustable length. 